British Empire

Tag Archives for British Empire.

Where Britain has not invaded

Based on a tip from a reader this week, I found this interesting map. Stuart Laycock, a British Historian has identified that 90% of the world’s countries were at some point invaded by the British in his book:  All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To. Not all were captured and not all became part of the Empire. It makes a fascinating image. The nations in pink were invaded or taken over in some way at some point   Related Posts   Going Metric – A Startling View

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Driving on the wrong side of the road

An endless source of discussion with international friends is the division of the world into countries that drive on the left and countries that drive on the right. Which side is “wrong”? For my US friends, Australia drives on the “wrong side”. We feel the opposite. My understanding is that up to the 17th century, all rode on the left. In fact, in 1300AD, Pope Boniface VIII stated that all pilgrims heading to Rome should keep left. Napoleon reversed this. Some say because he could. Others say because he was left-handed and others so he…

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